PSL Chairman Dr Irvin Khoza, Kaizer Motaung, Mato Madlala PSL Acting CEO, Safpu president Thulaganyo Gaoshubelwe and Nhlanhla Shabalala of Safpu at PSL Offices (Pic Sydney Mahlangu/ BackpagePix)
The buying and selling of club statuses could be seen by some as unfair to those that can’t flex their financial muscle to move into the top tier from lower leagues.
But then again, who’s to says you shouldn’t use all the resources at your disposal to gain favour/advantage.
Tshakhuma Tsha Madzivhandila (TTM) last week bought their way into the Absa Premiership taking Bidvest Wits’ place.
This means four teams from Limpopo now ply their trade in the top flight, and while Limpopo beams with pride it is also signals the end of an era for a team that has been in existence for almost 100 years.
2021 would have marked Wits’ 100th anniversary, but all that will go up in smoke at the start of the 2020/2021 season, when TTM plays its first home games at the Thohoyandou Stadium.
Some have complained that waving your wallet around and getting all that you wish, while throwing out a 100-year-old club with all its history and mopping the floor with a decorated coach in the process, leaves a slightly sour taste in the mouth.
That, unfortunately, is the way of the world nowadays.
At the end of the day these are all business moves, but surely as lovers of football and historians we shouldn’t put a price on legacy, and losing a club that’s a century old in our local league the same way our European counterparts do over a few millions will continue to be a sore point.
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